Safari West.

My afternoon on Friday the 15th just completely threw me off, and Saturday morning I was sifting through a lot of stunted emotions, so Saturday afternoon Bill and I ran away to Safari West. It’s a bit of a That exists? kind of place: African animals (rhinos, giraffes, monkeys, and bitchy ostriches) roam about in open enclosures in Calistoga, just one and a half hours north of Berkeley. It’s a fascinating place. Until I can afford the time, money, and planning for an actual African safari, it’ll do.

Nyah, nyah, Suzy!

That day was blazin’ hot. On Safari West’s Vehicle Tours, you have the option of sitting on top of the canopied safari truck (which survived the Korean War…), but there was no chance I could have ridden that exposed to direct sunlight and not passed out from heatstroke. My only regret is that I couldn’t have been closer to Suzy (sticking her tongue out, above) in height.

See the baby?Tons o’ Rhino.

I’d been to Safari West years before, but it was a rainy day in December. Most of the animals were hiding away in their shelters, and mud made the driving very limited. Experiencing Safari West when centralized shady areas dictated all the “cool spots” (Pun intended.) on campus was a whole different tour. (Although, when Safari West was rained out, we had a rather intimate encounter in the closed barn full of giraffes. Win some.)

So are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes? I just don’t know.And whilst I was experimenting with the settings on my camera, one of these cape buffalo straight up POOPED ON another cape buffalo’s head. And the shatted one did not recoil quickly.